Can I Use a Qolsys IQ Panel 2 w-o Alarm.com?

Hi DOIs. Joey from Alarm Grid. And today we’re going to
talk about whether or not you can use the Qolsys IQ2
panel without alarm.com. And the answer is yes, you can. The system will work as
a local alarm system, and you can use a lot of
the cool features that are on the panel. Like many other all-in-one
systems, especially non-proprietary alarm systems,
when I say non-proprietary I mean alarm systems that can
work with a recognized alarm service such as alarm.com
or Honeywell’s AlarmNet. Most of those kind of
systems, or systems that work with that stuff, can
be used as local alarm panels. What I mean when I
say local alarm panel, is that the system, you can
use all the features that are on it, but it’s
not going to talk out as there’s no service
that is connected to it. The IQ2 has tons of
features out of the box that you will be able to use. For example, it has a built
in z wave plus controller, and it has some
really great z wave controls and diagnostic
tools that are built right into the system. That you’re going to be able
to use right out of the box, and you will be able to control
your z wave lights, locks, and other devices that are
compatible with the IQ32. But you won’t have remote
access to this outside of your house on a tablet, on
a phone, or on your computer, without alarm.com as a
service on the panel. Another thing with the IQ2 is
that when you go to buy it, you’re going to notice
that the new panels, they come with a built
in cellular module. And the new ones you can get
built in daughter board cards. What the daughter cards do is
they allow you to communicate, or they allow the
system to communicate with different sensors that it’s
not natively compatible with. A good example of this is the
Honeywell 5,800 series sensors. They work on the 345
frequency, and this system doesn’t have that built in. But if you buy a new one with
that daughter card installed in the system, you will
be able to communicate with those sensors. As the Qolsys IQ2 only is made
with built in cellular modules, the system is really
meant to be monitored. With this said, you can
use it as a local arm panel and it will work great as such. But you’re going to be spending
more money than you should for that application, as there
are other systems out there that don’t have a built
in cellular communicators, and are a little more stripped
down than the IQ2 panel, and they may make more sense
for a local alarm application. The IQ2 is great. Again, you can use it
as a local alarm system, but as it has the
hardware built into it and you can’t buy it without
the cellular module installed, you’re going to be spending more
money than you really should for a local alarm system. Just keep in mind
that this system is meant to be
monitored, and it’s meant to be monitored
on dual path, as it has a Wi-Fi
module inside of it and a cellular module
inside of it also. The cellular module can
work on AT&T or Verizon, you just have to
pick the right one. And that’s only going
to affect the signal strength of the panel. Whether it’s on AT&T or
Verizon, it doesn’t matter. It’s just you want
to pick the one that is best suited for your area. The Wi-Fi module and the
cellular module in this unit will allow it to do
dual path communication. What dual path is, is
that with alarm.com it’s actually going to
communicate on both paths up to the main
server, and the server is going to discard the
one that it gets second. So you’re always
going to be guaranteed that the system is
communicating with alarm.com as fast as possible. Another great feature that you
get with alarm.com on your IQ2 is that your security
company is actually going to be able to pull
up the panel programming, run diagnostics, help you
with any panel programming, and remotely download
to your system. This is great if you’re
at home and you’re trying to troubleshoot something
and you can’t figure it out. Maybe you’re away
from the house and you want them to update
some user codes or change some
sensor programming. With this system
being monitored, that’s another benefit
that you’re going to get. All of these things that
you get with the monitoring, Qolsys, when they
made the system, they pretty much assumed
that most customers are going to get the system
monitored on alarm.com. Now with all this said,
you can use the system as a local alarm panel. As far as the security goes
with a local alarm system, you can set the system
up, you can put sensors all over your house, smoke,
fire, whatever you want to do. And if something goes off,
the system will alarm, the siren will trigger,
it’ll make lots of noise, and it will work
as an alarm system. Anybody in the house is going
to see it as an alarm system still. The only thing is, without
monitoring, you’re not going to get that signal out. So if this is a location
that you’re really trying to protect,
or if you really do want to get the
police or fire, or ambulance to the house
when something happens, you really want to get
the system monitored with alarm.com. And it’s really best to get
central station monitoring at the location if
you’re looking to make it as secure as possible. With this said
though, the IQ2 works great in a monitored or
unmonitored situation. You can use it in either. You can even get
it monitored, drop monitoring if you don’t
want to pay for monitoring, or if you don’t want that
service for some time, and then get it re-monitored. It’s a super
flexible panel and it works great in either instance. So to answer the
question, yes, you can use the IQ2 panel
without alarm.com. If you have any
questions about this, feel free to give us a call,
head over to our website Alarmgrid.com, or
send us an email to support at Alarmgrid.com. If you enjoyed the video,
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and have a great day.